TATO, Jul 24: Alleging irregularity in the process of acquiring land for establishing the Shi-Yomi district headquarters here, the All Shi-Yomi District Youth Association [ASYDA] has appealed to the state government to direct the district administration to acquire the required land for the purpose by following all the provisions and rules of the Land Acquisition Act in a transparent manner.
In a representation to the chief secretary, the association stated that on 26 September, 2019, the Shi-Yomi district administration along with the members of the land advisory committee (LAC) executed a deed of agreement between the land donors (as the first party) and Shi-Yomi deputy commissioner (as the second party, representing the state government) at the community hall here regarding donation of land for establishment of the district headquarters in Tato.
The representation stated: “On the pretext of signing of the deed of agreement, more than 100 land donors/owners were asked to put their signatures on plain paper without showing any clauses or terms on the agreement. All the land donors/owners were made to sign on an affidavit blindly without knowing how much area of land actually they would be donating to the government individually for the establishment of the district headquarters.”
The association claimed most of the land donors/owners are still unaware of the terms and conditions in the deed of agreement as “nothing has been told to them by the authority concerned.”
“It seems some local public leaders with vested interest in connivance with the district administration tried o take advantage of the ignorance of the poor land donors,” it said.
The association alleged that the members of the LAC, comprising local public leaders, in a meeting on 19 September, 2019, “misrepresented the facts regarding the total area of land to be acquired by the government for the establishment of the district headquarters.”
“The poor villagers were told by the LAC that a total of only 5 hectares [50,000 sq mtrs] of area will be acquired for the purpose, whereas, later on, it has been found that the land owners were made to signed on an affidavit declaring an area measuring about 986.332 hectares [9,863,320 sq mtrs] as donated,” the association claimed.
“The district administration did not send the original deed of agreement, which was actually executed on 26 September at the community hall here, and instead only the names of 60 land owners with forged signature have been forwarded to the higher authority as the official land donors,” the representation read.
The association appealed to the chief secretary to conduct a thorough inquiry and initiate legal action against all the persons involved in the alleged forgery.
Further, no memorandum of understanding as per the deed of agreement has been drawn and executed till date between the two parties, it said.
The association stated that the district administration has time and again refused to furnish relevant documents like gift deed, land donors’ list, MoU, rough sketch map, etc, despite repeated requests.
